


Janna Vs. The Forces Of Darkness - Prologue

by Sirkylelenn, TheInvaderZim



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2019-10-10 07:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17421428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirkylelenn/pseuds/Sirkylelenn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheInvaderZim/pseuds/TheInvaderZim
Summary: On an Earth very similar to our own, not all is as it seems. Follow the lives of Janna Russo and Marco Diaz as they try desperately to escape the normalcy that plagues their hometown of Echo Creek.





	1. Foreward

    **Dear Reader,**

Welcome to Janna Vs. The Forces Of Darkness. Whether you’re a first-time viewer, returning for the newest chapter or just here to revisit the good ol’ days, thank you for checking out the story.

    Janna Vs. The Forces Of Darkness is an AU that asks a simple question: What if Star was never sent to Earth… but the magic instruction book was? In a tale of humor, intrigue, conflict, and even some romance, my coauthor and I have done our best to put to words a different, more outlying take on the world of Marco, Janna, Star, and everyone else.

    Originally posted on Fanfiction.net in 2016, don’t think that this new version is lacking in reasons to (re)read. While writing, SKL and I took enough departures from the show’s setting, characters and world that I felt it could succeed as its own book, only inspired by the original work. This revised edition reflects that. As a 1.5 to the eventual standalone’s 2.0, it will sport more detail, better contextualization, and some greater leaps away from the established lore.

    Like how 50 Shades was originally a Twilight fanfic, so too will this be - except this will be good work, based on a decent source. Not… garbage. Based on... more garbage. (Why did I even make that comparison? Leave a comment on this webzone with a better comparison and I will mail you a pizza roll.)

    While you read, you’ll notice that there are many creative differences between our work and the canon, and that more cracks begin to appear as we move forward. Although we’ve kept to a very visual-focused, action-based storytelling style, our world is just a bit more grounded and coherent than the one in our counterpart show. Due to the dire need for context on how the show’s mechanics are supposed to work, for example, rules and systems are established in our world that are only hinted at in the main story. Villains have also been given different motivations, and worlds are given different, more developed backdrops. Scissors are much rarer. Characters in general, particularly the more unnecessary fringes of the supporting cast, have been shifted or even removed depending on their necessity. A visual medium can juggle a supporting cast (such as the motley band following Ludo, or a class full of students) very easily. A story can quickly become convoluted by comparison. None of this is spoiled immediately, however, but for here. Consider this a notice to simply abandon your preconceptions.

    Finally, you’ll also notice that Janna’s last name is different than officially stated. In the show, she’s Janna Ordonia. She’s presumably of Filipino descent, and there are small personality differences as well. Her family structure is left in the dark, and so on. Originally, these discrepancies were due to the show literally not giving any context to the character, and so, we decided to move forward with our own version. Even now, we only know her last name from extended media.

    Rather than fix these discrepancies to keep close to the show (due in part to my well-documented distaste of the show’s direction), we decided to push further away and make Janna into something more... well, interesting and enjoyable than the show has done. Janna Russo is her own character, and we don’t try to disguise that fact. The result is that we now wear the name as a point of pride - not only was our version of Janna developed first, but, frankly, we believe that we did it better.

    This story is written by myself (/u/theinvaderzim), with writing and editorial help from my coauthor (/u/sirkylelenn). Reach us on reddit, or by leaving a comment here, or on our blog at therussohousehold.tumblr.com. You can also check out the blog for a bit of bonus content, such as analysis of the official show (once upon a time), character profiles, and sources on some of the various pieces of art we’ve commissioned.

    Loosely based on an AU idea originally posted by Skreelo.

    We hope you enjoy - comments and ideas are always welcome!

(P.S. - I’ll soon be at work finding a list of advanced readers as part of a review-team, in preparation for the final publication of the first book. It’s planned to be a 3-book series, to coincide with the story’s 3 planned seasons. You can help make the launch a success! You’ll get a free copy of the final book and we can personally chat about the story. If you’re interested, let me know!)


	2. Prologue 0: A Brand New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Long, long ago, and also never, the multiverse is, was, and always will be. Floating along the cosmic tides are two planes. One houses an Earth very similar to our own. And on another lives a world called Mewni…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The old version was unsalvagable for reasons I won't get into here. You can read more details in this posting: https://therussohousehold.tumblr.com/post/186619066193/update-post
> 
> If you're just reading for the first time, welcome! Disregard that. All you need to know is that there was an old (good) version of the story that is being usurped by a new (excellent) version.
> 
> So with that in mind, here's the first piece of a new beginning. Enjoy!

Long, long ago, from before time began until long after it ceased to be measured, was, is, and always will be the multiverse.

Swirling, formless and shapeless, the multiverse is made from and embodied by the raw power of an endless unconsciousness. It could be called God, or it could be the toy of such a being. The great expanse of aether within it defied, defies, and always will defy description. It is all shapes, all substances, all sights, sounds, tastes, and smells, simultaneously, while also being none of them.

This endless ocean of what would later be called magic, was, is and always will be the promise of the birth, life and death of all things.

Within its vast folds, boats of vacuum swim through its seas. Most of these pockets sat dark and empty for eternity, as infinite within their own space as the multiverse is outside it. They drifted towards one another, before being tugged apart by the tides they floated on, yearning for purpose in the absence of meaning, but never able to do more than touch.

Occasionally, always, and also never, these pockets of blank emptiness are breached by the substance they are suspended within. That substance trickles in slowly or else appears suddenly in a great cloud, is compressed, given definite shape and form, and builds the galaxies, stars, planets and life that are so familiar to us all. This substance creates matter, energy, and in its most basic form is known in any dimension by a single name: magic.

Within one such pocket of vacuum lies our Earth, formed much the same as we know it now - but our story doesn’t begin there.

Within another pocket that presses against our own, sits the planet (and therefore dimension) of Mewni. 

To those of us from Earth, Mewni is a dirtier, harsher, less advanced and altogether far more interesting plane. To those who call it home it’s all of those things as well, except the astonishing wonders so long lost to Earth have become normal. So, to the inhabitants, it is simply dirty, harsh, and simple.

Unfortunately, as with all stories but the original, ours begins at the end of another. To understand the bizarre, magical tale you’re about to read, we must begin with the grand finale of the previous. So, sit back, and allow this storyteller to regale you of the last and most recent tale of Mewni.

On this distant planet, orbiting a strange star, in a universe altogether startlingly similar yet so very different from our own, lived a princess.

That princess, named Star, was part of a royal lineage as old as the planet’s recorded history. They came from parts unknown and possessed the unique, exotic ability to manipulate magic. These royals were not the first to have that ability, but all other ways had been long since lost to time and expunged where possible from record. 

A farmer, after all, had corn stocks and potatoes to worry about, the future of which was far more consequential to their lives than the origin and manipulation of magic. And magic, where it did appear, tended to breed catastrophe.

Birthed to Queen Moon and King River Butterfly and sharing the royal family’s celestial naming tradition, Star looked just as most Mewmans - and most Earthlings, for that matter - did.  Waist-length blonde hair framed bright blue eyes on a caucasian face, typically occupied by a manic smile that spelled trouble for anyone who saw it. She possessed the ability to manipulate magic innately, just as her mother did - a trait passed from parent to child, one queen to the next.

But such abilities were exhaustive to use, and had odd effects on the Mewman soul nearly impossible to describe. So, in celebration of her maidenhood, on her 14th birthday Star was gifted the single other known artifact able to manipulate magic. Into her possession was placed the most priceless and treasured device known to Mewni: the Butterfly Magic Wand.

Although Mewni had seers, prophets and bone-readers, none were required to predict the unfortunate consequence of gifting an all-powerful artifact to a 14-year-old that had never heard the word ‘consequence.’ For every generation, after all, the royal kingdom ‘honored’ its rulers by rebuilding after each new princess inadvertently levelled swaths of what came before her.

Star was no exception. After being given the wand, she was sent on a coming-of-age expedition: a way to travel the world, see its people, and understand her role as princess. In the one year she’d spent away from home, she levelled catastrophic damages everywhere she went. Accidentally or on purpose, the destruction was so great that for the first time in generations, the royal family considered the once-traditional standard of good-ol’ fashioned “princess conditioning” (brainwashing) to keep her in line.

Unlike her predecessors, though, Star had good reason for her destruction.

Since receiving the wand, she’d been pursued by the monstrous inhabitants which crawled from the depths of the continent on which the royal family made its home. The monsters varied in size and shape, but were almost always led by a decrepit birdish creature named Ludo. He was a strange, undergrown sort, like his body had forgotten it was supposed to be tall, and was as ugly as his name.

Ludo was covered head-to-toe in putrid green molt-feathers, but for the tip of his head, which was bald, grey and unsightly. He had no wings, a deformity which had turned him especially cruel. His face was dominated by a dull, stout beak that caused his voice to shriek when he talked, and two large, yellow eyes glared out from above it.

Ludo, for all his malice, was as incompetent as Star was destructive. For months he pursued her with a force numbering in the dozens, but despite Star’s elementary magical knowledge and her complete lack of care for her wand’s well-being, he failed time and again to lay so much as a finger on it.

Until, that is, Toffee appeared. Star wasn’t sure where he came from, only that he was an absolute menace.Where Ludo was bumbling, Toffee was precise. Where Ludo fell flat, Toffee was relentless. Where Ludo was greedy, Toffee was ruthless.

No monster like him had ever been recorded. Toffee was lizard-like, with the long snout of an alligator accompanied by its cold eyes. Smooth, pale, blue-grey skin stretched taut across the muscular, lithe frame of a hunter. Ludo was a creature of anger and passion, but Toffee spoke in direct monotone - never so much as raising his voice. He wore a suit - a crisp, three-button, two-piece artifact from a long-passed, more formal time. And he seemed to be nigh immortal. Any wound inflicted, no matter how severe, was healed in a matter of minutes. Except, curiously, for his right middle finger. It remained conspicuously absent, leaving a glaring imperfection in his image.

As Star’s campaign of destruction grew, so did Toffee’s support. Monsters flocked to his (and, by extension, Ludo’s) command, until he’d amassed an army the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a generation.

After Star returned home early from the dozens of near-misses she’d had, Toffee finally deposed the shrivelled, power-hungry Ludo and became the absolute ruler of this new army. Under his order, they massed outside of the extravagant walls of the Butterfly royal palace, burning everything around it and ravaging the simple Mewman villages as they passed. Led by the royal family, the Butterfly kingdom prepared for war.

On the eve of the first battle, Star sought the solace of her most trusted friend and advisor. A level-headed squire named Higgs had accompanied her on her journeys as a guide, and as a feeble attempt by the royal court to curb her natural tendencies for chaos. During their adventures they’d grown close enough for the girl to earn her own room in the palace as the princess’s attendant.

But when Star sought her friend’s council, she found the girl missing. Gone without a trace, and only a note on the still-warm bed: 

_"Your wand, for her life. Come alone, or she dies.”_

That decision is where our story truly begins - at the end of one tale, and the start of another.

 

* * *

 

Toffee sat in the oversized throne of his once-boss Ludo, staring placidly at his new captive. Monstrous guards lined his throne room, standing at ease. Being as old as he was, Toffee had long since learned that it was far too great a demand to ask for discipline from the disparate band of monsters that his former chief had called an “army,” so he let them go about as they would, tapping the glass of the enclosure, celebrating the capture, and generally doing many things that a king would usually _not_ allow in a throne room.

The capture itself had been a remarkably simple affair. The royal palace was as impractical as it was impressive - layer after layer of magically-built additions towering up into the clouds from generations of vanity projects. After leading his united front to the castle steps as a distraction, all he’d needed was a single scout and a rag soaked with a sleeping agent. In their arrogance, the Butterflies (as he’d suspected), had taken every precaution against someone sneaking into the castle, but seemingly never suspected that someone would attempt to climb up from the outside.

Apparently, the window hadn’t even been locked.

And so his captured prey sat in front of him, meeting his unwavering gaze from behind the sheen of a nigh-indestructible crystalline cage. The methods Toffee had gone to for procuring it had quite literally cost him an arm and a leg (fortunately, his regeneration meant he was never in short supply), and yet, the results couldn’t be argued with. Infused with magic older than even his oldest family, it would shrug off any conventional attack without a scratch. As for the unconventional, anything that did manage to temporarily shatter it would be absorbed, before the crystal would grow back, twice as thick.

And despite all that, it hardly looked like more than a simple glass box.

The young woman he’d taken was a crass, vulgar sort that went by Higgs. A disgustingly ugly name that hardly suited the fair maiden in front of him. Even months of fighting off his forces had hardly dimmed the shine in her green eyes, the determined expression on her freckled face, or the luster of her close-cropped ginger hair. Hardly any older than the juvenile Princess, Higgs was nonetheless infinitely more crafty. Had she not been present during Star’s would-be expedition, he expected the wand would have fallen into his hands as soon as he set to it. Under other circumstances, he would have respected the teenager’s wits and courage.

Unfortunately, he’d hardly exchanged a word with her that hadn’t ended in desperate vulgarity, even when he’d offered her food.

So instead they sat, staring at each other, unblinking, for hours. To her credit, Higgs met Toffee’s staring contest well past the endurance point of any normal Mewman. Time ticked well into the evening, her eyes going very red, before she finally blinked.

Satisfied, Toffee, too, looked away. For the first time he noticed a crowd of his monster followers had assembled at the edge of the room, and were exchanging funds as if they’d placed bets on the contest outcome.

His monsters came in all shapes and sizes, from all corners of the continent, but every one of them had such things as betting in common. Left to their own devices and in luxury, he found that they would always self-destruct. Only a few had the respectable air of a warrior. Fewer still could exercise Toffee’s own level of self-control.

Still, they would do. He had raised an army from such dregs once before, and if there was one thing he knew, it was that there was always potential.

“You, Frog. And you, Forks.” Two of the crowd snapped to attention. One was a green-skinned, kilted humanoid that was far closer to a bullfrog-turned-man than a man-turned-bullfrog. He’d been responsible for snatching Higgs. The other was as much warthog as his counterpart was frog, but taller, buffer, and in a sleeveless white shirt and pants, with enormous forks belted into place over his hands. 

Toffee didn’t know their actual names, a point which he was considering amending - of the dozens of creatures he’d directed, these were the only two which he’d found produced reliable results.

“Prepare for our guest. She should be arriving any moment.” Toffee smiled, and the two scurried off as all the rest returned to their posts.

In the corner, Higgs frowned as she finally let her concern show. She of all people knew exactly how hot-headed Star could be, but the fact that Toffee was neither frightened of her wrath nor even seemed disconcerted about her rescue attempt, concerned her far more than anything else they’d ever encountered. They’d dropped buildings on this creature, and levelled towns to dissuade him. Yet, there he sat.

She was worried.

* * *

_Your wand, for her life. Come alone, or she dies._

The note still clutched around the reins in one hand, her wand gripped in the other, Star rode her steed fiercely through the night. The battle-lines for the pending war were crossed in moments as she dismounted a battlement several stories above. Mewman and monster alike looked on in shock as the magical princess fled, the eve before a conflict that as far as they knew, her own actions had caused.

A storm picked up directly in her wake, and wind buffeted her hair and clothes as soon as she’d cleared the last monster encampment.

Of all the vaguely magical creatures on Mewni, unicorns were by far the most exploited by the inhabitants. Star rode one now - a cross-breed called a warnicorn that was as corrupted as its name implied. Unlike a unicorn’s shining white mane, it had mottled grey hair that hid scars of past battles. Unlike a horse, it’s head was topped with a shining metallic horn, gleaming every color of the rainbow in the dim light. Unlike either, it was a cruel and exceptionally proud creature, taking its greatest joy in the heat of a fight. It’s magical roots gave it longevity far beyond most other creatures, allowing it to run nearly indefinitely if well fed beforehand.

Star’s wand proved just as handy as her steed, as she used it to restore her own strength and avert most of the rain as she rode. It was a long, hard and unforgiving trip, but she took it at a gallop the whole way.

After hours upon hours of dark, windblown riding, the topmost spire of Ludo’s former manor finally crested into view on the horizon. Star had never bothered to learn the true origins of the house, only that it was one of the last vestiges of a time when monsters had built such things. 

The distant light of dawn backlit the feature as she approached, turning the cloud-covered sky a deep purple. Though they were a tiny fraction of the height of the royal palace, the towers in front of her were hardly any less imposing. 

The storm itself, it seemed, wasn’t just surrounding, but emanating _from_ the castle’s topmost point itself - a long-forgotten magical artifact, it would seem, that Toffee had unearthed. Grey stone walls were complemented by moldering green shingling blown about in the high wind, and ancient brass features lined every point of note. Together, it gave the entire building the appearance of being newly-unearthed, itself.

Star dismounted at its gates. The warnicorn stood by proudly, hardly phased by the hours-long gallop. Star herself winced at her saddle-sores before using her wand to dull the pain. She might’ve been on a determined mission, but she had never been cut out for harsh conditions.

Approaching, a voice caught her attention to the left. Wheezing and crying, it sounded oh-so-familiar.

She rounded upon a set of bushes and dove behind them as the source came closer, alternating between hysterical misery and rage as it patrolled the perimeter of the walls.

“It’s my castle! MY CASTLE! They just kicked me out, and after all I’d DONE for them! I gave them a place to stay and a roof and clothes, and they just DUMPED me!”

Ludo came into view, as wretched as ever, looking no less pathetic for his rain-soaked gown and tear-wracked face.

As soon as he was within range, Star pounced. She tackled him and he went flying, hardly weighing more himself than his clothes. He smacked into the wall with a shriek of surprise before slumping over in a daze.

Star had him up a moment later, the front of his navy robe balled in her fist as she held her wand against his face. Ludo’s gaze was overcome with wanting as he beheld it, only kept in check by the terror of an all-powerful 14-year-old on the warpath.

“Where is Higgs?” Star snapped, then inwardly cursed herself at how much worry and hurt she’d let into her voice.

“Wait, WAIT!” Ludo screamed. “I don’t know! Toffee kicked me out of my own castle last week, I’ve been out here ever since! They locked me out! I have no idea what’s going on!”

Star lowered her wand, then dropped Ludo like a sack of potatoes before going to investigate the gate. Her old enemy was inept to the end, it would seem.

“Wait!” Ludo stepped up and hurried after her. “You can’t just charge in, my castle has defenses!”

“Don’t care. I’m getting my friend back.” Star levelled her wand at the entrance, contemplating the best spell to melt the lock.

“No!” Ludo shouted. “If you do anything wrong we could explode, or be set on fire, or be covered in acid, or -”

“Okay, okay, I get the idea!” Star said grumpily. She had to resist the urge to kick at the bird-man’s watermelon of a head as he came closer. “So what do I do?”

“I can guide you!” Ludo eagerly chirped. “I know this castle like the back of my hand. All I want is to have it back once you’re done with Toffee!”

Star considered this, but only for a moment. “Fine. But ONLY if you promise to leave me alone!” She knew he wouldn’t keep up his end of the deal regardless, and had no intention of doing so herself. But, the enemy of her enemy...

“Yes, yes, of course!” Ludo nodded excitedly, extending his hand. Star only looked at it in disgust, and he allowed it to drop limply to the side.

Foregoing this, he approached the front gate himself. “Now, the first step is the gate.” He said. “There’s a series of incantations you can say, if you use your wand, that might be able to counter -”

“There are keys in the lock.” Star said, her voice ripe with disbelief. Sure enough, Ludo’s own keyring was still in the front entrance, complete with a little bauble with his name, shaped like his head.

Ludo flushed. “Oh, um, yes, well, that’s good then. I knew that. Onward!”

Turning the key, the gates clicked open, revealing an overgrown courtyard filled with faceless statues and dry fountains, but Star paid it no mind as she charged ahead. Ludo trotted behind her, barely able to keep pace, and, in moments, they were inside.

“Left! Right! Left! Left! Right! Left!” He hardly had time for more direction than that as they ran, Star sprinting down hallway after hallway in the maze-like corridors, searching for her lost companion.

“Stop!” Ludo shouted. An enormous pair of double doors was before them, easily 20 feet tall and covered in ornate depictions of what had to have been Ludo’s family tree.

“Toffee is inside.” Ludo muttered. “We need a plan to be able to take him.”

“No plan,” Star replied. “Just action.”

With a blast of magic from her wand, the doors flew open with a bang. The enormous hall was revealed. Higgs was off to the side in a glass box, while Toffee sat in an oversized throne at the far side of a 40-foot table, totally unguarded.

“Princess Butterfly.” He called. “So glad you could -”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a second blast of magic, which caught him straight in the chest and threw him out of his chair.

"CHAAAAAAAARGE!”

A roar of noise filled the hall as, from all sides, Ludo’s former minions screamed into the hall. Every one of them had a weapon. Some were sporting flails, swords, or axes, while others had more unorthodox implements - rolling pins, kitchen knives, or fireplace tongs.

Ludo quietly disappeared as, distracted, they charged around him.

Star held her wand aloft and began to perform. She didn’t know many spells, but the few that her magical instructor had drilled into her head had come in handy, time and again. This one in question was a sort of “combat dance.” She had no idea how it actually worked, but as she waltzed, spun and pirouetted through the crowd, blasts of magic always seemed to appear at just the right times to stop whoever was approaching dead in their tracks.

By the time it was finished, two dozen monsters lay strewn at her feet, groaning in pain and sporting new welts, bruises and other unpleasantries to compliment the others that Star and her friends had granted them over the last few months. That was always the downside to her magic - her instructor had an aversion to _killing_ the monsters, for some reason, and her wand seemed to as well.

At the end of the room, Toffee stood up. The throne upon which he’d previously sat was a pile of kindling, and there was a large, clean hole through his suit and his chest. Around its edges was a ring of quickly knitting, growing and writhing skin, hypnotizing yet simultaneously hideous to look at.

He cleared his throat and dusted himself off. “Now then,” he said. Before he could continue, Ludo dropped from the ceiling.

“GIVE ME BACK MY CASTLE!” The bird-man screeched.

To his credit, it would have been an excellent surprise attack - had Ludo a weapon, not been screaming, or weighed more than a small dog. As he had none of those things, however, he plummeted down, straight into Toffee’s open palm.

“Uh, please?” He added meekly as Toffee stared coldly at him.

“Why Ludo, I’m surprised,” Toffee said. “I thought you wanted a wand?”

“A wand? What’re you on about?” Ludo asked, still shouting. “I want my castle back!”

Toffee gave a sigh. “Ah well.”

As if on cue, in a burst of growth his chest finished mending, leaving only a large hole in his suit to mark its existence. That, too, began to mend, as magical fabrics remembered their shape. Still holding Ludo, Toffee picked up a remote on the table, on which he pressed a button. A shaft down to darkness opened in the floor.

“Wait, waitwaitwait nononononoNOOOOOOOOOoooo...!” He walked Ludo over to it and dropped him in, before shutting it behind him.

“Alright, now then -”

This time it was Star who interrupted him, as he turned to find her standing in front of the glass cage, her wand pointed at his head. “Give me Higgs, right now!”

Toffee gestured dryly to the cage. “She’s right over there, and you seem to have beaten off my security. Why don’t you take her?”

She glared at him, mistrust evident, before turning away to inspect the box.

“Higgs!” She shouted through it. “It’s okay, I’m going to get you out of there. We’ll be okay.”

Higgs, though, didn’t react. “Star,” she said, level-headed as ever. “This is a trap. Run, now.”

Star backed up, not listening. “Okay, this will be okay. Rainbow-destruction blast!”

Star had never taken much for actual spells, instead preferring to shout nonsense and let her wand do the work. Despite this, her substitute for a real incantation nonetheless produced results. A gout of rainbow light issued out from the end of her wand, which harmlessly bounced off of the crystal.

“SUPER rainbow destruction blast!” Her version of more powerful spells was to add a prefix.

Once again, a gout of rainbow energy exploded from her wand, deflecting against the glass without so much as a crack.

“ULTRA rainbow destruction blast!”

To her credit, this time the blast WAS a little bit bigger, though still to no effect.

This continued. Seconds turned into minutes, which turned into an hour as Star continued adding longer and longer strings of adjectives to her inept magic. Enough to level cobbled buildings and burn fields of crops, or to beat back brawling monsters, but hardly a match for prepared defenses.

Toffee quietly resumed his seat in a borrowed chair next to the destroyed throne, watching in triumph and mild amusement as the princess’s increasingly desperate attacks failed. The monsters, too, got up and took positions around the room, having been warded off from their next attack by their leader.

After some time, the spells tapered off as the princess finally gave up. Toffee, shrewd as he was, had to give her credit for her persistence if nothing else: a less single-minded girl like Higgs would likely have judged the attacks pointless by minute three.

Panting and close to tears, Star turned on Toffee, wand outstretched. “Give her back,” she said. “Do it, or I’ll -”

“Or you’ll what.” Toffee said dryly. “Attack me with magic that can’t hurt me?” He looked down at the tiny remnant of a hole in his shirt as it stitched itself back together. “Destroy this castle which isn’t mine?”

Star’s lower lip trembled, and Toffee pressed a button on his remote. Behind her, the cage containing Higgs whined like a machine and began to compress.

“Uh, uh oh!” The girl warned. Her hands were just able to touch the ceiling, and she braced herself as best she could. “Star, this is bad! Get out of here, seriously!”

“You should listen to your poorly-named friend, Princess.” Toffee warned, but he was smiling the grin of a creature who’d known the winning outcome before he’d ever played the game.

He held up the remote. “Checkmate.”

Star looked at him, then rushed back over to the cage, attacking it with a renewed fervor. Spell after improvised spell bounced harmlessly off of it, and within a minute, Higgs was on her knees, struggling to hold up the top of the box as it continued crushing down.

“Your wand or her life, Princess.” Toffee called. “I’ll still take it later, but you can at least spare your friend.”

Star stared down at the wand, then at Higgs, who was now on her back, all four limbs pressed against the ceiling as it continued pressing down. “Don’t-do-it!” She growled through clenched teeth. “I’m not important!”

The princess walked over to the destroyed throne, where Toffee was waiting. Higgs was growling now, obviously in pain, propping her elbows as a last-ditch effort to ward off becoming a pancake.

“You’re important to me,” Star murmured, and dropped the wand in Toffee’s lap. “Alright.” She said, then took a deep breath. “The wand is yours. You can have it. Now let Higgs go.”

Toffee’s smile widened, and he pressed a button on the remote. Higgs gasped in relief as the roof began to raise, just in time. “Star, no!” She shouted, and pounded weakly against the glass. “I’m not worth it!”

Star remembered all the time that they’d spent together, though, being chased by the monster in front of her. She remembered how she felt about someone who was only supposed to be a squire. She felt a tear roll down her face. “Yes, you are.”

Toffee sat, triumphant, but did not take up the wand. “Excellent. Now, one more thing.” He said.

Star looked at him, miserable and defeated.

“Destroy it.”

She stared, and the room went so silent you could hear a pin drop. The monster guards which had been congratulating each other went quiet.

“W-what?” Star asked.

“Destroy it. I don’t want it. Only you can say the spell.” Toffee’s face contorted into a grin so wide that it could’ve been a grimace. “Surprise!”

Star kept staring, befuddled as much as despairing.

“Destroy it!” For the first time that she’d ever heard, Toffee raised his voice. Then he raised the remote. “Destroy it, or your friend meets her fate!”

His finger hovered over the button, and Star hurriedly picked up the wand. Higgs said nothing. Had this somehow… become better?

The Butterfly family wand was a beautiful heirloom, and changed its own appearance depending on its master. For Star’s mother, it had been a long scepter topped by blue crystal. It had been regal, a symbol of authority as much as a practical item. It was fitting that for Star, it took on the appearance of a child’s toy. Plasticky purple casing was embroidered by tacky gold, with fluffy vestigial wings sprouting from the sides. Its only truly remarkable feature was the brilliant, fist-sized star in the head of the case, with the remainder coming together to put on the appearance of something a young girl would play with for a moment before tossing aside.

Star stared at it for a moment. The wand had done so much for her, meant to so much for her family, and yet, she’d never truly considered it. The wand was just a _thing_ , a magical thing that she’d been entitled to for reasons she’d never understood but always flaunted. And now, it was going to die.

She took it up and pressed it to her lips, tears on her face, and began to chant. It was an ancient spell, and the only one that she’d ever learned from her mother. It used ancient words she didn’t understand, and caught in her throat as she said it. 

As she did, the wand wilted. The colors along the handle faded, creeping up from her hands towards the crystal. The wings flaked away. The star in the center, so lustrous only moments before, faded to a dull grey, before cracking clean down the center.

With the spell done, Star stared at it once again, as did Toffee - one in despair, the other in triumph.

“There.” Star finally said. She wiped away the tears and dropped the now-useless relic on the table. She’d just killed her family’s best chance of surviving the coming war. “Now let my friend go. Please.”

Toffee shrugged. “I’ll keep my word. More than I can say of your family.” Pressing another button, a door slid open on the cage. 

Higgs staggered out, at a complete loss. “Star… you shouldn’t have…”

They embraced, and Star let her tears flow. Her friend was safe, but she had no idea what would happen now - what a future without a wand would be like. And they were still in the center of the enemy’s throne room, after all.

While they silently communed, Toffee took the opportunity to speak to the hall, and its remaining monsters. “My friends,” he said loudly, “it has been a pleasure. I leave you now, but I assure you - Mewni is within my capable hand. Please close the door behind you.”

On the table, the wand began to vibrate, and Star hardly heard it over her sobs. Toffee stared down at it expectantly. Light wreathed the broken crystal and began firing out at random. Several beams shot directly through his midriff, piercing him like knives, but he paid them no mind. More fired into the room, collapsed pillars and crashed into walls around him, and the vibration extended into the floors and ceiling.

The monsters began fleeing before Higgs or Star could consider what had just been said. Toffee only smiled at them triumphantly, before finally lifting the wand up as if to hold a toast.

Doors slammed shut at the end of the hall as the last of the monsters fled. The two mewmans could only stare, transfixed, at the beautiful and terrible sight as the wand cracked further, shredding more holes in Toffee as he held it.

“To a new era.” He said. Then there was an explosion, and nothing more.

* * *

Star awoke later, covered in rubble. She wasn’t sure how much longer later, or how she’d survived. Her face was streaked with tears. She knew, somehow, instantly, that she should just go back to sleep - that she wouldn’t be able to stand what she found.

She dug her way to the surface, anyway. Behind her a flowery cocoon, a gift of her family nature, withered and faded to nothing. Only a few inches of patchy gravel and wood separated her from daylight, and reappearing, all she saw was desolation.

Toffee was gone. The crystal cage, the wand, the room - the entire castle had been obliterated, along with most of the nearby forests. A great crystal growth had sprouted nearby, where the throne had been, and it cracked and shattered as Star approached. Her wand, miraculously, was floating within, its colors faded but present, half a star glimmering dully from the tip, a dark, empty void sucking at the air from where half the crystal had been. Somehow still intact, possibly even functional, but damaged beyond all repair.

Star took the wand, numb to the world, before looking around for the reason she’d come in the first place.

She found it when she saw a pale, unmoving wrist, sticking awkwardly out of the carpet of ruined stone.

Despair overcame her, and a blast of magic more powerful than anything her wand had ever produced scoured the land of rubble for hundreds of feet. The body of her squire was all that remained, all else blasted to its foundations. 

Star keened and wailed, tears rolling down her face, an otherworldly sound that defied description. Then, in a flash of light, she was gone.

* * *

It was days later, and several costly battles, before a scout from the royal palace could slip past enemy lines to look for the lost princess. What they found instead was the body of her best friend, atop the barren ruins of her enemy’s lair. \

Returning, the messenger saw that the enemy, the short bird-man named Ludo, had taken Star’s wand, but that it was different. Half its crystal sat embedded in the palm of a skeletal hand, absent its middle finger, with the extending wrist as its handle. The crystal glowed green and evil as Ludo used it to raze village after village on the way to the palace.

But when the messenger arrived, they realized that Ludo wouldn’t need to sack the capitol. Without the royal magic to hold its lofty spires up high, the uppermost structures had finally cascaded down from their own weight, crushing the city below in tons of rubble. The remaining armies were fleeing, with those who surrendered being rounded up and shackled. 

With no word on the King or Queen, and no hope of resistance, the messenger slipped into the woods, never speaking of what they’d seen again.

* * *

Far, far away, in a long-forgotten dimension called Earth, a small storm appeared above the back alleyway of a high school. With a crack, a barrier which had once kept all magic at bay was shattered, and a portal opened high above the ground.

Silently, a book the size of a desk fell through, speeding to the Earth below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the blog for regular updates, chapter previews, and more!
> 
> therussohousehold.tumblr.com


	3. Prologue 1: Janna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a much more ordinary plane sits a much more ordinary planet, and on such an ordinary planet sits an ordinary town. Though Janna Russo, resident troublemaker, has done everything in her power to make that not the case…

Impossibly far away from the problems and trials of Mewni, on a far less interesting plane, sat a far more normal galaxy, housing a far less magical planet called Earth. On Earth (specifically in southern California, a perfectly normal place for it) there was a town called Echo Creek. Just on the outskirts of Los Angeles, it served as a sprawling suburb with no real borders between it and the neighboring towns in all directions.

The town itself was named for what had once been a flowing creek that ran through it, but had long since dried up, leaving a perfectly normal, dry, concrete-covered creekbed in its place.

A few blocks from this uninteresting bit of trivia was a perfectly normal private school called Echo Creek Academy. This school taught perfectly normal, uninteresting curriculum, with no unusual electives or tests, or teachers. The sports teams placed well enough to win trophies, but not well enough to win lots of trophies, and the academic records of the students were strong enough to attract students, but not strong enough to earn acclaim.

Janna Russo, a normal, 15-year-old sophomore who was currently bored to tears in her normal, boring math class, hated all of this. She hated how normal her life was. She hated her normal school, her normal town and her normal planet, and like most high school sophomores that weren’t popular, sporty, brainy, preppy or self-obsessive, she wished every day for a mild apocalypse to swallow up the normalcy and birth something worth remembering in its place.

As it was, the most interesting thing about the math period thus far had been the dynamic of her head, suspended above her desk by a propping hand but ever-so-slowly drooping as she faded in and out of awareness. Her fingertips were pressed against the olive beanie on her head, slowly pushing it up past her temple as gravity worked to bring her nose to the floor. 

Most of her other classmates were in similar states of stupor, strings of drool connecting them to their desks, eyes blank and drooping, ears buzzing, or else playing with their phones beneath their desks.

At the front of the class, Janna’s core studies teacher (Miss Skullnick) droned on about geometry, either choosing not to notice or else not caring about the state of her class. She stomped around in front of the board, her steps lightly quaking the desks as she moved her enormous mass back and forth. Each shuddering step brought Janna’s cheek a little bit closer to the edge of her hand, and her barely-conscious face a little closer to the desk as a result.

Just as Skullnick was handing out work assignments, Janna’s phone buzzed in her pocket. Caught by surprise at literally any compelling stimulus whatsoever, this (combined with a particularly hefty pattern of steps as Skullnick got closer to her desk in the back) finally tipped the scales. Janna’s hand lost its scarce grip over her face, sending it plummeting to her desk. Her forehead hit the wood with a whap, startling several other students out of their own stupors and earning a chorus of low chuckles.

She bounced back up a moment later, temporarily energized and paying absolutely no attention as a worksheet about the Pythagorean theorem landed in front of her. Her teeth rattled as Skullnick turned and returned to the front, and using this brief blind spot, Janna snuck her phone out of her pocket, seeking any plot more compelling than being forced to describe the sides of a triangle for the next few paragraphs.

_ “Delivery is in usual spot - H.” _

She didn’t recognize the number, but that wasn’t unusual. Her caller ended up changing to a new burner phone every few weeks as a security measure.

Standing, she raised her hand. “Miss Skullnick!” She announced. “I have to use the bathroom.”

Skullnick reached the front of the class, turned, and plopped into her chair behind her desk, rattling the windows. Then she took a moment to stare flatly at her charge.

Janna’s face belied her nature - a round chin, small, pointed nose and brown eyes gave thought to a cute, if unmemorable young woman. Her features were framed by uncropped black bangs and chin-length hair that had the good fortune of being naturally straight, as the thought of regularly brushing it was, to her, nightmare-fuel.

The silence lingered, and Janna raised an eyebrow before putting her hand down and adjusting her green skirt and cyan jacket self-consciously. She tried to dress interestingly - but with her limited options, she wasn’t left with much to work with.

Skullnick’s responses to Janna’s presence in her class ranged from one of two polar opposites: she either watched her every move like a hawk betting on a horse race, or else flatly refused to care at all about her continued existence. There was little in-between, and the poles were regularly swapped depending mostly on how recently Janna had been in trouble, and how particularly angry about her own life that Skullnick was that day.

Today, it seemed, was a not-caring day, which suited Janna fine. Skullnick grunted and gestured toward the door before picking up a paperback romance off of her desk and beginning to read. Janna scurried to the exit a moment later.

As soon as the door was shut and she was sure Skullnick wasn’t watching, she struck out in the opposite direction to the bathroom - straight for the back exit to the school.

Echo Creek Academy’s most remarkable feature was its architecture, the builder having presumably been imported from someplace more interesting before being executed for having the gall to disturb Echo Creek’s monotony. Sweeping angled roofs covered curving, locker-lined hallways, but the halls weren’t technically indoors. Instead, narrow strips of sunlight and rain made their way through long gaps down the center of the throughfares. Open entrances and exits allowed a fresh breeze to blow through during passing periods, to mock the students about their captivity and disturb the overabundance of litter lining the checkered floors.

Janna made her way through the back exit without trouble and into an altogether less interesting back alley, lined with dumpsters and AC units, as well as notably less litter than areas frequented by the school’s inhabitants.

She checked both directions and reached behind one of the dumpsters, holding her nose with one hand. Withdrawing, she held a brown parcel about the size of a CD case, which was quickly shredded open.

Inside was a box, flipped open to reveal a crystal charm. It was pretty, certainly - the crystal had been fashioned into a starburst, held by a simple but sparkling silver chain that made it a necklace - but not something that one would normally need a dead drop to obtain.

Janna weighed it in her hand, discarding the wrappings to the ground without a second thought. Supposedly, the thing held a weak mind-control spell, wherein, after the incantation was said, it would glow and leave anyone who saw it a bit more susceptible to her whims.

She was  _ really _ hoping it worked, and that she’d be able to use it to talk herself out of the math work currently sitting on her desk in Skullnick’s class.

Opening her phone, she found the passage that she’d copied out of a supposed spellbook she’d ordered online. Carefully, she sounded out the incantation before finally speaking with intent.

"By my crystal, my word is law. Obey me heathens, obey me all!”

She then held the crystal in front of her face, looking for a telltale glow. Nothing happened.

Undeterred, she tried once again, to the same result.

“Ugh!” Janna raised her arm to throw the necklace, but thought better of it before it left her hand. Magical or not, it was still an interesting trinket.

“I knew it wouldn’t work…” she instead muttered. “Stupid spell didn’t even rhyme right.”

Reaching for her phone, she dialed the number that had texted her, and a man’s jovial voice picked up almost immediately.

“Janna!” He said. “How’s my favorite little girl? Did you like the necklace?”

Janna rolled her eyes. “The necklace is a bust, Horatio!” She admonished. “You just sent me more junk, like usual.”

“Really?” Horatio asked. He sounded surprised. “You’re sure? Because I mean, I know I’ve said this before, but that was  _ exactly _ where you said it’d be - some long-lost tomb in Romania. It’s not like I found it in a pawn shop, you know.”

“Yeah, pretty sure.” Janna grumbled. She once again inspected the necklace, finding no trace of its supposed telltale glow.

“Darn.” Horatio replied. “Well, it was worth a shot. How’s school going?”

Janna thought back to the classroom, where Skullnick likely still hadn’t noticed she’d been gone too long. It looked like the math worksheet on her desk was about to become a  _ home _ work sheet. “Fine.” She said.

“Actually,” Horatio continued, “aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

“No, I’m out in Noneya.” Janna said flatly.

She could practically hear Horatio’s eyes roll. “Well, whatever. Anything else you need while I’m in Romania?”

“Goatswax candles,” Janna ordered. “Vampire blood if you can find any. Preferably  _ real _ this time. I want to try some summoning instructions I found.”

“Uh-huh. Anything else?”

“Nope. Thanks for - well, bye.”

“Love you.”

Janna ended the call without a response. “Darn it, dad…” she muttered.

More than anything, Janna fancied herself a witch. Not a ‘witch’ witch - since that brought to mind a crooked nose, green skin and warts - but a beautiful, terrible spellcaster, using supernatural magic to burst the boundaries of reality and reshape what was normal.

She owned dozens of spellbooks and scrolls that she’d either filched, ordered from Horatio or else found online, and one after another they’d been a bust. She’d gone through years of magical supplies attempting incantations and summonings, and the interest didn’t just stop with her - her home had been filled with her mom’s weird pseudo-magical junk for as long as she could remember.

Horatio (or, as she very occasionally called him, ‘dad’) was her main enabler in this interest, leaving dropoffs at school with interesting tidbits he found while managing a black market overseas. She had no idea what his black market actually  _ sold _ (though she sincerely hoped it was something mostly innocent), but the shared interest kept the two in touch with each other… which was more than the man could say for the rest of the family.

Mulling over the next summoning she was hoping to try, Janna slowly made her way back into the school, checking the time and hanging her new charm around her neck.

The latter half of the period was coming to a close, which meant she had more to watch out for. She’d been out of class for over 20 minutes, which meant that Skullnick had probably finally sent someone to find her. And that someone was probably the hall monitor. And that hall monitor was probably…

She flattened herself into a gap between rows of lockers as the boy in question rounded the corner. Marco Diaz, resident safe-kid, was hard to miss. He was Janna’s height but wearing a fantastically red hoodie that could probably be seen from orbit. It clashed horribly with a neon-blue sash around his chest, “hall monitor” emblazoned in gold across it. Brown, well-combed bangs sat proudly above wide, searching eyes.

He was humming to himself and Janna sucked in her breath, doing her best to lie flush and undetected against the wall.

He approached, though, and she had no such luck. Ever vigilant, the latino’s head was on a swivel, and he smirked as he saw her. “Try an actual locker next time. Come on, Skullnick’s ticked.”

Janna exhaled in a burst, stepping out and rolling her eyes. “Didn’t have time. And if Skullnick gets to me I’m gonna get detention. School’s out in 20 minutes, can’t you just tell her that the nurse sent me home or something? She’d believe that.”

Marco shook his head. “She didn’t last time.” He plucked at the sash on his chest. “And Skullnick’s still mad about that!”

Janna sighed and reached into her pocket. “Like last time, then.” She withdrew a sheet of notebook paper, “IOU” scribbled across it along with Marco’s initials.

Marco glared at it. “If I do that again I’m getting in trouble. Seriously, Janna, use it for something else.”

Janna withdrew another to sweeten the deal but Marco grabbed her wrist anyway. “Marco, let me go.” She ordered.

Though she didn’t notice at first, Marco went very still. He stared at her, transfixed, still holding her wrist, and she smirked for a moment as she realized  _ where. _ That was, after all, something that boys just  _ did _ from time to time. But she looked down at herself a moment later and realized that not only was her (annoyingly unremarkable) chest too covered for such a thing, but that her new trinket was twinkling softly in a way it hadn’t been before.

The glow (if it was a glow), was hardly present - more of a sparkle than an actual light, and made the crystal itself twinkle like the star it was shaped after. Marco shook his head as if he were trying to dislodge cobwebs, blinked a few times, then shook his head again. He released Janna’s wrist, and then snatched the two IOUs out of her hand. “Fine.” He said, then turned and began to walk away. 

Janna wasn’t sure what had just happened - but she wasn’t going to stick around to ask. Instead, she grabbed the charm from around her neck and cupped it in her hands, trying to see if it would glow in the semidarkness. A quick examination revealed nothing, but when it was released back down to her neck, it continued glimmering.

Then, when she looked down again, something had changed. The necklace still looked the same, but also didn’t, and she wasn’t sure how. She was hardly two steps down the hall before Marco shook his head, coming to his senses. “Janna?” He asked. His voice was equal measures annoyance and suspicion, with the slightest tinge of fear. “What was that? What did you just do?”

“Uhm…” Janna turned and tried to look innocent - a skill that she’d always wished for but had never acquired. She was still fingering her necklace, trying to formulate a response but coming up blank.

Marco’s eyes flicked down to it as well, though this time he was far less confounded and far more wary. “Where’d you get that? You didn’t have it when you left class.”

“Did so,” Janna lied.

“It was glowing.”

“Was not.”

There was a pause.

“Janna, I need you to give me - hey!”

No sooner was the word ‘give’ out of Marco’s mouth than Janna was sprinting away, down the halls and towards the exit. 

“Janna, get back here!” Marco shouted, and ran after her.

Janna clutched at the charm around her neck as she ran, her head spinning. Had it actually  _ worked? _ Was it actual  _ magic? _ But why had it worn off so quickly? These thoughts and more raced through her mind as she turned a corner, foregoing her backpack as she raced past the door to Skullnick’s class.

“Janna!” Marco was hot on her heels - she might’ve had a headstart, but Janna knew for a fact that he practiced karate every evening, and she herself did everything possible to  _ avoid _ physical exertion. “Give me that necklace!”

“No!”

“Janna!”

She rounded a corner, barely managing to dodge Marco’s outstretched hand on her shoulder. “No!”

Turning another corner, she was now running the opposite direction she wanted to be going - straight back into the heart of the school.

With Marco out of sight (even if only for a moment), she ducked into the first door she found - one that happened to be for a janitor’s closet.

The door was barely shut before Marco slapped into it from the other side, falling backwards. “Janna!”

But Janna wasn’t listening. Among other things, she had an intimate knowledge of every nook and cranny in Echo Creek academy, most of them having come in quite useful for occasions such as these. So, her eyes on a vent hatch at the top of the tiny room, she scurried up the shelves before Marco could get the door open. The closet was knocked asunder in the process, cleaning supplies flying every direction but towards where they were supposed to be stored.

Reaching the top, she opened the hatch and climbed in, disappearing like a snake and thundering away as Marco climbed up after her.

Echo Creek Academy once again proved that it’s architect was far too interesting to have built such an exciting building in such a boring town. The vents running throughout the school were nearly four feet square, providing just enough space for a ne’er-do-well like Janna to get wherever she needed to be, exactly when she needed to be there… provided she was willing to get a little bit dusty.

Unfortunately, the vents were as loud as they were wide, and she suspected that whatever classroom they were over was experiencing an unplanned disruption as she hurried along. Fortunately, being such an awkward situation, she had leveled the playing field - she still wasn’t any faster than Marco, but she wasn’t losing any more ground, either.

“Seriously, Janna!” Marco was about eight feet behind her now, making even more of a racket than she was as they thundered along. “That thing could be dangerous! We need to take it to, I donno, the police or something!”

Janna bit back an overly wordy retort, too out of breath to supply it. “Never!” She substituted.

Unfortunately, never was approaching too soon for her liking. She’d taken a wrong turn, somewhere, and the vent in front of her was completely blocked by a fan.

Marco managed to snag her ankle, and she had to resist kicking out - aside from not actually wanting to hurt him, a short skirt was  _ not _ the ideal choice of apparel in situations like this.

“It’s over.” Marco gasped. There was a faint light coming in from a vent beneath Janna, and by it she could see that he wasn’t in the best condition. He had a shiny bruise on his cheek from where he’d collided with the door to the Janitor’s closet, and was covered head-to-toe in sweat, dust and grime. Janna, also panting, doubted she looked much better.

“I’m serious! Don’t make me take it.” Marco warned.

“You know how long I’ve been looking for something like this?” Janna held up the crystal, which glimmered in the dim light. “Literally my entire life, Marco. Why would I give it to you?”

“Uh… because specifically you having it is the worst idea in history?” Marco said, and Janna frowned. “Sorry. But seriously, give it here.”

He set one hand on the grate beneath Janna, getting closer, but before he could reach further, there was an unfortunate groan.

The two teens had a moment to look at each other, and one more to regret every choice they’d made up until this point, before the flimsy grate collapsed beneath their weight.

The good news was, what would’ve been a dead drop of over 10 feet was aborted almost immediately by a bookcase, the two falling in a pile on top of it in a dusty huff.

The bad news was, they had only one more moment to marvel at their luck before the bookcase wobbled, their momentum causing it to topple over onto the next.

The resulting tumble was flashes of pain and a cacophony of noise, someone shouting over the din, and then Janna found herself lying on top of an enormous pile of books, their former home slowly sliding to a stop nearby.

Marco was next to her, moaning, and then Janna also started to feel the bruises.

“You okay?” She asked, and Marco moaned again.

“Define okay,” he croaked.

“Are you dying?” Janna asked flatly.

“Only - ow - only on the outside.”

Marco reached over and snatched at the necklace, managing to pull it hard enough to disconnect the chain. “Hah. Got it.” Janna didn’t have the will or energy to try and get it back.

Instead, they sat up together and found that the library had not been empty when they arrived. The librarian and school janitor were nearby, wide-eyed and staring from beneath a table, a stack of neatly organized books above their heads.

Janna let herself fall back onto the pile. “Great.”

* * *

The next few minutes were a blur for Janna.

The library itself was a near-total loss - what shelves had even survived being knocked over were completely bare, their contents strewn about like confetti. The librarian and the janitor, for their part, were eerily calm about the whole thing, emerging from beneath the table to contact the nurse and the principal.

Moments later there was a stampede, students and teachers from the surrounding classrooms piling in to see what the noise was about before gasping and blabbering at the damage. The final bell of the day rang only a moment after that, shoving the crowd further into the library as more and more of the school piled on to see what all the fuss was about.

Janna contemplated disappearing into the circle that had formed around the pair’s pile, but Marco grabbed her arm and shook his head as she made to get up. The school nurse arrived a moment later, the principal in tow, and Janna decided that it was for the best she hadn’t tried to run - she couldn’t stand particularly well anyways.

After escaping into the nurse’s office from the pile of students following them, the nurse herself insisted on a humiliatingly thorough (though thankfully private) examination of both of them, where Janna’s many bruises were tallied and recorded. Fortunately, both she and Marco had somehow escaped with hardly more than a sprained ankle - not that she was thankful for that, being more purple than not - but it was enough for them to be dismissed to the principal.

The principal who, as it turned out, had been practically foaming at the mouth to get at them. He was a stubby, fat and balding man who rarely showed his face to the students, but normally seemed rather harmless. Today, though, with his red face, gnashing teeth and beady eyes, he reminded Janna of a mole rat.

It would’ve been funny, if it hadn’t been so terrifying.

Both Marco and Janna were waiting in his office while parents were called, but it might as well have been death row. Janna didn’t dare try and find solace in Marco’s company - he hadn’t spoken to her since they’d left the library, and it was obvious he was almost as mad at her as the principal was.

Finally, their parents arrived.

Janna had met Marco’s family a few times in the past, and knew that his mom and dad were generally a happy pair. Rafael Diaz liked loud, collared shirts that covered a stocky build, and sported flawlessly combed hair, and neatly trimmed eyebrows and goatee. His smile normally reached from ear to ear. 

Angie Diaz had brown, poufy hair that reached past her shoulders and was nearly twice as wide as her modest waist. She had mischievous eyes and a grin that was as excited as Rafael’s was earnest.

Neither of them smiled when they arrived, instead fussing over their only son’s new bruises until he managed to wave them off.

Then Janna’s mom entered, and it only took one look for Janna to know that she would not be leaving alive.

Floricia Russo was a single, overworked mother of two troublemaking girls. That she’d had to take off work early probably meant that she’d be making up the time spending Christmas at the shop-mart where she spent 60 hours a week. Her hair was prematurely greying from stress, and frayed at its edges like someone had made a habit of poking into it and pulling out its strands. She was still wearing her work uniform - a faded green polo, jeans, and a stained red apron - and her glare, fixated on her older daughter, said everything that Janna needed to know.

“Are you okay?” She asked shortly, and Janna nodded. Her mom nodded too, curtly, and then sat down in front of the principal with Mr. and Mrs. Diaz. Janna and Marco were relegated to chairs against the wall, not a part of the discussion.

“Will Janna’s father be joining us? Calling in, perhaps?” The principal asked, and Janna winced.

“He’s not available.” The acid in Mrs. Russo’s voice could’ve melted a battleship.

The principal, seemingly unaffected, nodded.

“Mr and Mrs. Diaz, Mrs. Russo, I called you today because… well, hold on now.” Pausing, he withdrew a small notebook from his pocket and flipped it open, beginning to read. “In the space of only an hour, your children cut class, caused a disruption in the halls, broke into a janitor’s closet, ransacked it, ascended  _ into the ventilation system, _ damaging both their entrance and exit points, and destroyed my library!”

As he went down the list, the principal had gotten louder and louder, ending at a shout and on his feet. Not that the change was noticed - he was about as tall in his chair as he was standing.

Mrs. Diaz cleared her throat. “But, Marco was allowed to be out of class - he’s the hall monitor…”

Marco himself was still wearing his sash, which was so thoroughly caked with dust that its gold lettering was hard to read. He shifted uncomfortably when the room glanced at him.

“Well, I suppose, but -”

“And the janitor’s closet was unlocked.” Janna interrupted.

She stared unabashedly at the room as every face turned to look at her. “You said I broke in. It was already unlocked.”

She caught her mom’s eyes for just a second, and thought she saw the tiniest twinkle of something, before it was crushed in a steely glare that said two words loud and clear:  _ Shut. Up. _

The principal didn’t seem to know what to say to this, so he instead withdrew his pencil and made an amendment to his notebook. “Well, be that as it may, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, your son was still part of this fiasco. According to my reports, he chased miss Russo through the halls screaming at her, followed her up the vent while further damaging it  _ and _ the janitorial closet in the process, and it was their combined weight which caused the vent to fall.”

Marco looked down, dejected, and both his parents looked at him with concern.

“But, considering his exceptional academic and extracurricular record, I have been  _ forced,” _ the Principal looked like he was suppressing a particularly large burp. “To avoid expelling him. So, instead we will be looking at an in-school suspension of at least -”

“Wait, hang on.” Janna spoke up again, and the principal bit his tongue. His head revolved as if on a swivel to look at the girl.

_ “Yes, _ miss Russo? Something to  _ add?” _ Behind him, Janna could see her mom staring at her wide eyed, making cutting motions at her neck and mouthing  _ expulsion. _

Janna plowed on anyways. “Marco didn’t have anything to do with this. It’s all me.”

The principal sat back at this, smiling widely as if he’d just happened upon a particularly delectable bit of candy to add to his waistline. “Go on?”

“I cut class, and Skull-  _ Miss _ Skullnick sent him out to find me. I tried to get him to let me go, but he wouldn’t let me. So I ran, and he chased me. I was the one doing all the shouting.”

The principal nodded, and somehow, his smile only got wider. “And what about the janitor’s closet? The vent?”

Janna sighed. This was so unlike her, but Marco was still technically one of her only friends…

“That was me too. I went into the Janitor’s closet to get to the vent, and Marco was worried I’d hurt myself. He followed me in to try and get me down. He was just trying to help.”

Janna’s mom had gone completely white, while judging from his expression, Janna would’ve thought the principal had just been told he’d won the lottery. “How interesting. Thank you.”

Turning back to the parents, he suppressed his smile. “Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, in light of this  _ development, _ I am going to let your son off with a detention and a warning. Even good intentions can have bad consequences.” He turned to Marco. “Young man, next time, find an adult. You may go.”

Marco gave Janna a look that she couldn’t quite figure out as they passed, and almost imperceptibly, forced a couple of pieces of paper out of his pocket. Janna caught them before they hit the floor - they were the IOUs.

The door clicked shut behind them, and now, the principal made no effort to hide his grin.

“And as for  _ your _ daughter, Mrs. Russo,” he said. “I’m afraid in light of her previous record, I have no choice but to -”

“Wait,” said Janna’s mom. Janna had only looked away for a moment to follow Marco’s exit, but when she turned back, her mother’s demeanor had completely changed. She’d gone from white to flushed, from fearful to determined, from timid to forceful.

“Wait?” The principal’s eyes bugged slightly. “Shall we go over the list of your daughter’s various misdemeanors at my school, Mrs. Russo? I’m afraid I have the list  _ memorized! _ ”

Despite everything, Janna couldn’t help but roll her eyes.  _ Here we go… _

“Over the last 2 years, your daughter has defaced the mascot statue outside five times,”

_ Eight, _ Janna mentally corrected.

“Flooded school bathrooms twice,”

_ Brittany deserved what she got, _ Janna amended,

“Been charged with  _ sixteen _ counts of destroying school property,”

_ It’s not like we didn’t pay for those textbooks _ … Janna groused.

"Stolen and destroyed the school mascot costume, twice,”

_ Improved, _ Janna once again corrected.

“And has over three dozen tardies, truancies and class disruptions to her name this semester  _ alone. _ ”

At this, Janna snickered, thankfully quietly enough to not be noticed.

“She has faced detention, failing grades, in-and-out of school suspension, and been threatened with expulsion twice. So tell me, Mrs. Russo, exactly why I should not throw your delinquent brat out onto the street where she belongs?”

Floricia sighed, and Janna knew enough about her mother to know that she was witnessing a grenade without its pin, and that this was the moment before the storm. Mr. Mole-Rat, though, seemed to not have such an inkling, standing indignantly nearby. 

"I will.” She said. “But I’d prefer if my daughter waited outside while I did.”

The principal smiled nastily. “Yes, perhaps that would be best.”

Janna stepped outside and closed the door a moment later. What followed was a tirade, first from the principal, for a few seconds… and then from her mother, for a few  _ minutes. _

The door was soundproofed enough that she couldn’t hear exactly what went on - but she’d faced the wrath of her mother enough times to get the gist.

A few minutes later, the door opened and the principal stepped out. He stared at Janna and his expression was pure hate. “Community. Service.” He spat. “Two weeks, as is the maximum I can assign for one offense by law. You will help the janitor clean up my school until the end of his shift, every day, for the next 14 days.”

After this he leaned in close, their noses practically touching. Janna leaned back a bit but found herself pinned against a wall. She tensed up, ready, just in case the angry little man decided that corporal punishment wasn’t totally out of fashion just yet.

Instead, he hissed through clenched teeth. “If you act up again. If you so much as put one toe or  _ hair _ out of line, I will make sure you spend the rest of your teenage life IN A CORRECTIONAL FACILITY!”

Backing up, he straightened his tie, but skittered away as Mrs. Russo appeared in the doorway. She stared at him with distaste. Despite Mrs. Russo being only a few inches taller (and the principal being considerably larger around), at that moment he seemed to shrink down a few dozen waist sizes.

“Janna, we’re going home.” Said the mom.

* * *

It was nearly two hours after school had let out by the time they got to the car, Janna waiting with bated breath. She’d left the frying pan behind, and was now straight in the unrestrained inferno below.

But the fire was cooler than usual, today. Janna’s mom didn’t look at or speak to her on the drive home, and it was only once they’d pulled up in the driveway that Janna finally asked, “so… am I grounded?”

What followed was a laugh tinged with hysteria that Janna found more worrying than if her mom had just screamed at her. “Grounded? Janna, how would I even be  _ able _ to ground you? What’s a mom even supposed to do when she gets a call at work, telling her that her daughter has  _ destroyed an entire library? _ ”

Janna wasn’t sure how to respond, so her mom continued.

“But yes, let’s say you’re grounded, Janna. Indefinitely. You will not leave the house except to go to school and come home, and if I hear from your sister that you did, I will take your phone, then your spellbooks, then anything else you might hold dear,  _ in that order. _ And if I get a call from your principal again, you’d better hope that it’s for the honor roll, because if it isn’t,  _ I will make your life a living hell. _ Do you understand me?”

Janna nodded. In a cosmic sort of way, she was almost glad to be back on the rails of what was ‘normal.’ She could track with this. This made sense. Her mom laughing like she was about to drive her car into the river did not.

“Good. Then go to your room and do your homework. Your teacher told me you need to start or you’re going to fail math. Your backpack is in the back. I’ll call you for dinner.”

Floricia made to get out of the car, but Janna had to ask one last question.

“Mom? How’d you get him to keep me in school?”

Floricia sighed. “Ask when you’ve graduated.” With that, she went inside.

Janna mulled this over, no closer to finding an answer than she’d ever been. Even the most mundane mysteries were better than nothing, after all, and she’d never been sure how her mom had gotten her into school at all.

Aside from her record that reached back to the third grade, Echo Creek Academy wasn’t public. She didn’t have a scholarship, and her mom could barely afford to put food on the table. Their car was a busted old Kidyota, their house was leaning over and in shambles, and her wardrobe was made nearly entirely from items found in the dollar-or-less barrel at the same store her mom worked at.

Shrugging, she set those thoughts aside, then winced as her shoulders ached and screeched in protest. Gingerly, she headed inside, ready to lay down and concentrate on anything  _ but _ the math homework that she’d left in the car.

No sooner was the front door closed behind her than her kid sister barged in behind her.

“M _ oooooo _ m! How come  _ Janna _ gets a ride home?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out the blog for regular updates, chapter previews, and more!
> 
> therussohousehold.tumblr.com


	4. Prologue 2: Marco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco's just an average, ordinary teenager. And he hates that about himself. But his attempts at breaking the mold haven't exactly gone according to plan...

After the events of the previous afternoon, Marco’s entire following school day was draped in a veil of disbelief.

He was surprised he’d made it to school, as he was utterly coated in aching bruises, including several shining across his face which felt like the books that left them also left imprints.

He was surprised that, despite destroying the library, he was somehow still let out of class as hall monitor - Skullnick presumably not able to find anyone else qualified for the job.

He was surprised that Janna appeared in Skullnick’s class when she called roll, sure that the previous day had ended with her expulsion.

He was surprised that not only had she gotten away with only community service, but that she was actually doing it - albeit begrudgingly.

And more than anything else, he was surprised at the amount of acclaim that destroying a school library had earned him.

Marco was somewhat well-liked by most people in the school, students and staff alike, but he didn’t have many friends. His obsession with his grades, along with a general disposition towards the blandest, safest life possible, had relegated him to a group of similar nobodies who knew each other more by being grouped together by others, than by caring for one another themselves.

Ironically, this made his frenemy status with Janna one of the only relationships that he actually chose to have.

Suddenly, though, every student in school wanted to be his pal, and all the faculty suddenly looked at him like he might spontaneously combust. From the airheaded jocks to the idiotic popular clique to the nerds that he was formerly shunted together with - overnight, everyone knew his name, went for hi-fives in the corridors, and he was even invited to a couple parties (which, of course, he graciously declined).

When he finally found himself in detention at the end of the day, his head was buzzing from more than just his aching face. It was as if he’d accidentally eaten a dose of someone else’s life when he’d woken up that morning, instead of his breakfast.

But, some things never changed - after less than 10 minutes, Skullnick decided he wasn’t going to cause enough trouble to be worth supervising. She stomped out of the classroom with only a glare, before his detention had hardly even started.

Unfortunately, sitting in an empty classroom was far less exciting than suddenly being the most interesting kid in school, and he couldn’t persuade himself to live up to his new reputation and just leave. So instead, he fumed.

Being ‘the safe kid’ annoyed Marco to no end, even as he lived up to the reputation each day. That Skullnick didn’t bother sticking around to supervise him only personified the problem. He’d picked up karate to learn to fight, just in case he needed it - but he couldn’t ignore the ‘straight and narrow’ path that he’d been put on by his circumstances. Every day he practiced and practiced, mastering each new technique, hoping for a chance to put those reflexes and skills to use. But the scuffle with Janna had been the most exciting thing to happen in his life since he’d gotten lost on a family camping trip. Not only that, but his training had been pointless, and he’d gotten his butt kicked by a flimsy vent and a pile of books.

Even subjecting himself to Janna reflected this: nobody who was at Echo Creek academy really wanted a dull life, if the partying was any indication - and yet, Janna was the only person who tried to break out of it. But ‘breaking out of it’ for him, had only broken his boring life down. Not only was he stuck in detention and nursing bruises for doing what any reasonable, Janna-acquainted person would have done, but he was missing the test that would’ve earned him his green-striped karate belt.

After nearly half an hour of reflection, he was no closer to figuring out what he wanted - but apparently Janna had heard his thoughts. With a clatter, the classroom door sprung open and she entered, dragging a string of trash bags behind her.

She caught Marco’s eye immediately, before busying herself with Skullnick’s trash can. They hadn’t spoken to each other since the library. Marco, it seemed, had gotten the rough end of the stick in terms of bruising - aside from a few sore spots on her arms, he couldn’t see hardly any swelling at all.

As she was leaving the room, though, she apparently couldn’t hold her tongue any longer than she had. “You’re welcome,” she said, and Marco’s formerly neutral expression shifted into a scowl.

“For getting me stuck in here?” He shot back. Annoyance and anger bubbled to the surface of his musing.

“For keeping you from getting suspended. You know I almost got expelled?”

Marco only snorted. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Janna stared at him in disbelief. “Wow dude.” As she turned to him, he noticed she was still wearing the charm.

“I had a flawless record!” Marco exclaimed. “And I’m missing my karate test!”

Janna flushed. “And? I got 2 weeks of community service after school. Wanna trade?”

Marco glared at her and she shrugged, the anger melting off her. “Shouldn’t have run after me.”

She made for the exit before an idea struck, and she went back to Skullnick’s desk. “So you’re all alone, right?” She asked, before opening drawers at random.

Marco stood up, well-trained to recognize when she was up to something. By the time he reached the front, she’d finished with the drawers and was scattering papers across the desk, clearly searching for something.

“Ah hah!” She withdrew a math key, ‘test’ written along the top.

Marco could only think that the only thing more unbelievable than her deciding to look for it, was that it was so cartoonishly present in the first place.

He snatched it from her fingers, learning decisiveness from his attempted grab yesterday. “Seriously?” He held it back and Janna gave him a level stare.

“Give it,” she said. “I’ll copy it down and nobody will ever know except us.” She reached into her pocket a moment later but Marco cut her off, knowing what she was going for.

“Oh no.” He said. “No favors. Janna, if Skullnick even found out you took this you’d be expelled. Or worse!”

“So what?” She asked. “You gonna tell, safe kid? I don’t have time to study right now.”

Marco deftly dodged a swipe at the sheet, placing Skullnick’s chair between them. He glared back. “Sleeping through all the lessons probably hasn’t helped.”

Janna swiped again. “Exactly.”

Marco, depositing the sheet in his back pocket, held up his hands. “I’m not letting you have it. If I get caught with it, I’ll explain what happened. Seriously, Janna. Not this time.”

Janna looked at where the sheet had disappeared and ruminated. “Fine,” she said finally. “But you owe me another favor.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m getting something out of this.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, nonplussed.

“And if you don’t then I’ll come back and take them later.”

Marco glared. Slowly, he moved to his backpack, withdrawing a piece of paper and drawing up yet another IOU. He wasn’t sure why - only that somehow, he needed to make sure that Janna didn’t get herself expelled.

“This is messed up,” he said, and handed it over. Janna took the paper with a satisfied smirk before heading back to the hall with the trash.

“You should toughen up,” Janna shrugged. “Skullnick left - you should go to your karate thing. Stop being such a pushover.”

Marco made to sit down, before considering her words. He turned to ask her if she’d say anything if he did leave, but she was already gone.

He sat down at the desk with his bag, extracted the answers to the next week’s math test, and examined it without looking at the solutions.

Making up his mind, he set the test answers back on the desk while rearranging everything to look presentable. He grabbed his bag, a slight thrill running through him as he did, and headed for the door.

* * *

The next morning, nobody noticed when Marco wore his new green-stripe belt around his waist under his hoodie - but he knew it was there, and that was enough.

Unsurprisingly, nobody made any mention of him leaving detention early. Skullnick didn’t even notice anything out of place on her desk. Janna caught Marco’s eye during their first period and he lifted his hoodie to reveal the belt. She gave a thumbs up, before turning back to the front and making a pillow from her hat as Skullnick began their English lecture.

At lunch, though, the day began to go awry. He sat alone, his usual table of misfits being too prying about the library experience to be tolerable that particular afternoon. Janna, still on trash duty, approached and handed in the favor from the previous day. Marco frowned, but took it anyway.

“I need to pick up some magic supplies downtown right now.” She said, and then hefted her trash bag. “Not happening. So you get to do it.”

Marco bit back that he didn’t want to cut class, but was stopped short by both the lunch period just starting, and that he’d already declined the last two favors Janna had asked for - not to mention this one being by far the least problematic. So instead, he only sighed and withdrew a pen from his bag.

“Give me the address.”

Sneaking out of school was a new experience for him, as on the rare (typically Janna-related) occasion that he’d wanted to leave before, he’d just left - the staff assuming that whatever ‘safe-kid Marco Diaz’ was doing, it was well within the rules.

Now, with the teachers looking at him like he was a land mine just waiting to destroy their classrooms, he actually had to make a go of it - dodging between classrooms, hiding in the halls, and actually jumping a fence instead of leaving out the front.

By the time he’d made it off-campus, it was far later into the lunch period than he would’ve liked, and he still had quite a ways to go.

Echo Creek’s downtown was only slightly more remarkable than the rest of the city. The town had formed for gold-miners to get supplies, and the tourist-themed buildings took advantage of this, each one sporting a modern take on what had once been a staple of the old west.

A smattering of people were walking the streets, none taking notice as Marco hurried by.

The address Janna had given, as it turned out, wasn’t an address insomuch as the dirty back-alley behind the address. Out front, an old-country saloon promised sarsaparilla and square dancing in the evenings. Behind it, the theme was dropped in favor of a typical concrete corridor lined by dumpsters and air conditioning units.

“You here for the magic junk?”

Two thugs were waiting, leaning along the walls. One was Marco’s height, balding, clean-shaven, and about as wide as he was tall. The other was lanky and as tall as it was possible for a human to be, with shoulder-length hair and a bushy beard that covered his mouth.

Marco blinked, and the two glared at him.

“Russo?”

The alleyway was narrow enough to make it hard to figure out where any particular noise came from, but the short one’s mouth didn’t move, so he assumed that the one with the beard had spoken.

“Yep.” Janna had instructed him that they’d only deliver to someone with her last name.

The short one approached and retrieved a parcel from behind him. He flipped open the brown wrappings to reveal a collection of vials and candles. “All yours.”

Marco tentatively approached, noticing that the taller thug moved behind him while he did. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

He reached out quickly, fully expecting the man with the package to pull it back at the last second, just as he’d done with Janna’s test answers the previous day - and that’s exactly what he did. They looked at each other in surprise as Marco grasped the parcel anyway, overextended into the thug’s personal space.

Marco tore the bundle away and turned, his reflexes proving useful for the first time in memory as he twisted, dodging an elbow aimed directly at his collar from the man’s other arm.

He took one step towards the exit, head turning, before finding himself only inches from the chest of the tall man with too much hair. He was grabbed by both his arms and turned back around, one looping beneath his armpit and across his chest as he was hefted up like a sack of flour.

He was now totally constricted, one arm constrained by the man’s grip while the other twisted out at an awkward angle behind him.

“Sorry kid, nothing personal. Your dad owes us a lot of money.” The bald one, once again in view, still had not spoken, and so Marco once again assumed that the one carrying him had said it. “Don’t struggle and you won’t get hurt.”

At this, Marco let himself go limp, and the balding thug made to pry the package out of his arms. Training flashed through his head - he’d never quite been carried like this before in class, but it was obvious neither of them were expecting someone who knew how to fight back.

Just as the package left his arm he twisted, feeling the tall man’s grip on him loosen slightly. He had just enough space to get his arm back up to his chest, and he pressed against the man’s ribcage with it.

The man dropped him in surprise, this occurring in only a moment. The stockier one dropped the package he was holding, which Marco scooped up before deftly dodging beneath a retaliatory blow and sprinting for the edge of the alley.

Only once he’d turned and felt the sun on his face, the shouts of two men behind him, did his adrenaline spike. He could feel his heart jumping in his chest, and, exhilarated, he dashed back towards the school with the bundle held under one arm.

So cool! He thought to himself. Months of training had paid off in those moments, and it barely registered that he’d nearly just been abducted. Only once he had looked behind him, seeing the two goons only a dozen feet back, did it occur to him to be concerned.

By the time he got back to the school, his lungs felt like they were going to rip from his throat, but although his pursuers had fallen behind, he’d never shaken them. He burst through the front hall of his academy and into a cloud of students heading to class, effectively stopped short by the crowd.

So, deftly, he slid the package into the pocket of his hoodie and did his best to act nonchalant, catching his breath as he slid between bodies to go retrieve his backpack.

Just as he was rounding the corner, though, he heard a scuffle at the front of the hallway.

“There he is!” The tall thug shouted over the hubbub.

“Move, brats!” The shorter one spoke for the first time in a snarl, and a girl screamed. Marco hopped up onto a locker for a moment to look over the heads of the students and saw that he was brandishing a switchblade. The crowd parted before him easily, the tall one following behind.

The two glared at Marco who gulped - he hadn’t expected them to be dumb enough to follow him into school.

As they got close, the crowd stopped moving entirely, while a teacher scurried off to call the police.

Marco exhaled and allowed his heart rate to return to normal. A small part of his mind was telling him to keep running, and to stall for time until the police could take care of things.

A much, much larger part was demanding that he fight in front of the school, and put the karate skills he’d been learning to the test.

He was sure it was the kind of decision that he’d look back on and groan about, no matter what he did.

He stood resolute at the edge of the crowd, the student body lining the walls silently - many holding up their phones - as the two goons approached.

The short one was panting, sweating and snarling, and looked like he’d like nothing more than to use the knife he was holding. The tall one looked uneasy, and even a little apologetic.

“You’re coming with us, kid.” Said the short one. “Right now.”

The tall one only looked around. “We shouldn’t be in here…” he muttered.

Before anything more could be said, the short one lunged forward, knife held in front of him like a fencer.

Marco deftly dodged to the right, to keep him from making a turning swipe. Overextended, the crowd parted further as the thug tumbled forward. Police sirens could be overheard outside, and Marco kept up his stance.

He turned, expecting to have to fight off another grapple from the bearded thug, only to find that he’d disappeared completely. A quick scan of the crowd didn’t reveal anything, and Marco could only assume he’d fled rather than be caught as an attacker in a school.

In that moment, he dodged on reflex as his remaining opponent recovered, turned, and lunged once again. This time, Marco caught his arm on the way past, yanking it down and causing his attacker to pirouette awkwardly to avoid dislocating his shoulder.

For a moment they grappled, the knife held away from them both, before Marco shoved the man away with his shoulder, and used his momentum to force the knife free. He dropped it a moment later and it clattered away.

Even angrier, the man turned just as someone shouted “stop! Police!” at the entrance to the school. This was enough to distract him once again, and Marco tripped him as he stumbled past. Turning, he completed the action, throwing his weight into a roundhouse kick that he planted firmly into his opponent’s side.

The thug gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, before falling to the side and groaning. Police officers rushed past Marco a moment later and the attacker was quickly cuffed.

Someone cheered, and then two people, and then the entire school was in a tizzy and Marco found himself in the center of it all. He couldn’t help but grin, stupidly, as the students celebrated, even as he was once again carted off to the privacy of the nurse’s office.

He assured them that no, he wasn’t in any pain, and no, he hadn’t been hurt, and by the time he was let out, someone came over the school loudspeakers and announced that because of the ‘attacker,’ the day would end early.

When he did finally leave, only Janna and one other girl were waiting for him. Janna accepted the provided bundle with a quiet thanks, while the other girl made Marco blush just to look at.

Jackie Lynn Thomas, AKA ‘Janna’s other friend,’ was another girl that Marco had taken classes with since starting school. She had blonde hair except for a teal streak that ran through it, which matched the color of her undershirt. A white tee went over top of that, accompanied by jean shorts that were technically within school dress code policy. Despite having never been formally introduced, Marco knew just about everything about her - from her favorite hobbies (skateboarding, video games) to her home address.

She was, in his eyes, the coolest and most beautiful girl in the school. And as a result, when she said “that was pretty cool, Marco,” he went red as a tomato and felt like he was choking on his own tongue, mind racing at about a million miles per hour as he tried not to make a fool of himself - and, realizing he was failing, tried to establish that he wasn’t being a fool, but that lighting up like a christmas tree and stammering mindlessly was perfectly normal behavior from him.

“Thurnguks - I mean - trank you - I mean - thanks.” he finally got out.

Jackie gave him a weird smile and Janna snorted loudly behind her.

Suddenly, Marco determined that if he stood in the presence of his crush for any longer, he’d spontaneously combust. So, with that, he gave a hurried “gottagobye!” before disappearing down the hall at a full sprint.

As soon as she was out of sight he slowed, before cutting a giggle that he hadn’t been able to restrain. Somehow, the nerves of actually talking to a girl he liked were dozens of times more intense than facing down an armed criminal.

Shaking his head in embarrassment, he retrieved his backpack and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wasn't the best to write, but Marco's life was uninteresting enough that I had trouble coming up with ideas. Go figure.
> 
> Check out the blog for regular updates, chapter previews, and more!
> 
> therussohousehold.tumblr.com


End file.
